Skimming Stones
by Misaki Amaya
Summary: N meets a girl by a pond one day. Eight years later, he's fighting against someone who looks all too familiar. Is she really a stranger? One-shot, mild Ferriswheelshipping


A small splashing sound chimed through the forest, interrupting the previous, empty surrounding. A break of ripples then flowed through the water, a chain reaction, each ripple and small drop of water cracking the skin-like surface and sending the soft waves to the other end of the pond, where they simply faded into nothingness.

A girl sat at the edge, her blue eyes widened, her soft brown hair flowing down her back. Her mother often told her to cut it, but she and her father had always kept it long, much to her mother's disapproval.

In her hands, a small, smooth, flat stone was held between her index and middle fingers, secured by her thumb. She stroked it, her eyes planted only on the stone as her thumb ran over it. The edges were almost like glass, as if it had been polished countless times by skilled hands. Her father had always shown her the best stones to skim and where to find them. Occasionally, particularly perfect one would show itself to her. It was all about patience, and when it payed off, it made her day that much better.

With an almost carelessly quick flick of her wrist, she let the rock slide out of her hand with a certain spin pushing it along. She smiled as it leaped out of the water like a Politoad, only it didn't have legs to make it do so. Instead, it bounced over the water like it was solid earth, barely touching the skin-like surface.

Six… seven… eight… then it fell below the surface with a _plop_. The girl smiled to herself. Eight skips. She'd gotten nine before, but eight was good enough for her. Always look at the bright side of life; that's what her dad told her, and even if she didn't beat her record entirely, she'd gotten close enough for her own satisfaction.

Nodding confidently to herself, she stood up, her eyes scanning the forest. It was a pretty sight, mainly greens and the occasional blue, but the different shades almost made them seem like different colours entirely. Even the rays of sun that broke through the canopy of the trees took on a soft green, though even they were enough to light up what would have been darkness.

She heard a flutter of wings behind her; a familiar sound. Almost out of instinct, she pulled her backpack over her shoulder and took out a slice bread, before turning to the Pidgey that had just landed behind her. It cooed, its soft sound brushing past her face and making its way to her ears. The bird's call seemed to soften the look on her face, and she breathed in a large gulp of fresh air as she approached the bird slowly, a kind smile covering her face and a handful of bread in her right hand.

The Pidgey's eyes widened slightly, before squinting curiously and letting out a small cooing sound as it eyed the girl, who simply held her hand out further, the bread gripped loosely between her thumb and forefinger. "It's okay," she soothed, the sound soft and airy, "I won't hurt you."

That seemed to confirm her kind demeanour, and the Pidgey twittered before hopping up to her, not taking any second, cautious thoughts, and taking the bread from her fingers, gulping it down in a split second. The girl smiled, chuckling slightly as she did so, and held her arm out for the Pokémon, which perched on it quite comfortably.

Though the two thought they were alone, they were far from that. The girl didn't hear the rustle in the bushes coming from the left of her, and if she had, she probably would have scared the Pidgey away with her own reaction.

* * *

Through the bushes, curious, somewhat confused eyes peered through a break in the leaves, though the colour of both the eyes and hair blended in perfectly with the foliage, creating suitable camouflage. The boy wasn't sure why he'd ended up taking such an interest in the girl. She wasn't very old, maybe two or three years younger than he was, but he'd never seen a mere child be so careful and delicate to a Pokémon. They usually embraced them with crushing hugs and fed them with as much food as possible, but this girl treated the bird as if it was a carefully crafted plate. It interested him immensely.

He wanted to approach her, but he wasn't sure what he would say. What if he scared the Pidgey away? It seemed to be having a good time, its voice happy and cheerful, like it was having the time of its life. Of course, the girl couldn't understand what it was saying, but she seemed to be getting all the information she needed from its expression. This only made the boy even more curious about her attitude.

His curiosity breaking through his sense of self, he felt his leg take a step, almost as if it was automatic. He wasn't telling it to do so, but he didn't stop it, either. He wanted to know about the girl, so he pushed his way through the bushes until he found himself standing next to a rather surprised looking face and a Pidgey that looked like it was ready to flee the scene at any moment.

However, it wasn't long before the girl's face turned into one of irritation and suspicion. "Who the Distortion World are you?" she snapped, the profanity rather high for one of her age. It made the boy jump back in shock, possibly more shock than she'd felt when he'd approached her. Her attitude had changed so quickly, from that of a calm little girl to that of a teenager going through a mood swing. Her eyes, previously so soft, were now sharp and accusing.

"I-I…"

"Spit it out, palm tree!"

This only furthered the boy's bewilderment. He couldn't even try to get his answer out before she'd snapped at him once again. The Pidgey was still perched on her arm, though it had been knocked around quite a bit due to the girl's jagged movements. She seemed to notice this soon enough, and her eyes turned apologetic.

"Oh, s-sorry!" she stammered, placing a hand on the bird's back as she steadied it before it fell off of her arm.

At first, the boy had thought she was speaking to him, and was almost ready to reply with a sharp and childish, "You should be!" before he realised she had once again ignored his existence. He crossed his arms, though he couldn't help letting out a smile at her fussing over the Pidgey.

'_It's okay, really!' _assured the bird as it flinched under her touch, though it laughed a few times as she tried to fix the problem that had never occurred in the first place.

It was then that the girl noticed the boy walking towards her, and she almost jumped back before she noticed he was now stroking the Pidgey on the head with his forefinger while the creature happily nibbled at a berry held in the palm of his hand. Her left eyebrow rose, but in seeing the boy's gentleness, she didn't hesitate or jump back. Instead, she watched the scene with a curious eye.

"Who-…" Only a single word came out, the rest of the sentence getting caught in her throat and swallowed again. She hadn't noticed how tall the boy was, making her think he must be much older than she was, but his face was so childish. Of course, he was a child, but the expression somewhat resembled a five-year-old and looked rather out of place compared to his height.

After a few seconds, he raised his head to address her in a rather formal manner. "My name is Natural Harmonia Gropius."

The silent beauty of the moment was broken when the girl bust into giggles and fell to the ground, the Pidgey frantically flying off of her arm and instead making its perch on said "Natural's"—now turned to the side—head as he stared at the girl while she held her stomach and tried to catch the breath which had long since escaped.

"T-that's t-t-the f-funniest name I've e-e-ever h-heard of!" she stammered, her eyes shut tight. "Stop it, you're making my stomach hurt!"

Natural continued to stare at her as she shamelessly laughed at his name, though he didn't understand what was all that funny about it. It was the name his father had given him, after all. His eyebrow was raised, his arms were crossed, and his mouth was curled into a small frown.

"O-okay, I'm good." The girl struggled to stand up, her legs wavering under her body weight as they threatened to collapse again, but she wouldn't let them. Her arms were still folded across her stomach, and small coughs of laughter threatened to break out of her mouth in an outburst as she tried to keep a serious eye on the boy before her. "Can I call you N or something? Natural," more chuckles, "is a weird name. No offense," she added quickly, waving her hand in the air as if swatting a fly.

"Why on Earth would you call me that?" wondered Natural aloud, and the girl crossed her arms confusedly.

"You know, it's short and sweet. Besides, it's a good nickname."

"Nickname?"

The girl groaned and smacked her forehead. "Nickname, you know, a shorter name that suits the person you give it to. So, how does N sound." But before newly named N could answer, she nodded confidently and said, "N it is! Well, my name's White!" She held out a hand. "Nice to meet you!"

N stared at the hand that White now had outstretched to him, not really sure what to do with it. Did he take it? Slap it? Repeat that action a few inches away from her? Eventually, he settled on the third option, and he, too, outstretched a hand, though didn't take hers in what she was meaning for him to do.

"Uh, okay…" White pulled her hand back and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, before jumping to change the subject. "So, N, what brings you here? I haven't seen you around before."

"Father let me out of my bedroom to go exploring for the first time ever!" His tone brought eagerness with it, much more than White would be expecting from such a sad statement.

"The first time?" she repeated. N nodded eagerly, a childish, excited smile spread across his lit-up face. _That explains why he doesn't know what a handshake is_. "So, why haven't you come out before? Do you live around here?"

"I do not live far from here. Father says the outside world is dangerous, so I can't come out too often. I'm only nine, though, so I suppose it's fair… are you okay?"

White choked on her own breath as she heard the boy's age. "Nine?" she coughed. "I-… but, you're so tall! You look about twelve."

N shook his head. "Nope, I'm nine."

"N-nine?" Though he'd already confirmed that he was nine… twice, White still couldn't get the fact into her head.

N shrugged. "Father always said I'm tall for my age. How old are you?"

"Seven." White's answer was short and cold, but she quickly regained herself and took a deep breath. "Anyway, why are you out in the middle of the forest?"

"I feel at peace here."

"You speak like an old person."

N raised an eyebrow, before continuing from where he was before he got interrupted. "The Pokémon, they're all at peace from people. There are no humans disturbing them."

White scoffed. "And what am I? An Alien?"

N shook his head. "I said disturbing them. You do not disturb them, it's odd."

"Uh, thanks."

White stared at him for a few more seconds. She'd never met anyone like him. Usually she wouldn't talk to people her age. She didn't like to. They were all so... childish. N, however, was different. Still childish, but interesting otherwise. Interesting in a way she couldn't quite get her head around.

"What brings you here?" His voice broke through her thoughts, the tone of it enough to make her jump slightly.

"I'm skimming stones!" she replied, somewhat playfully as she jumped and turned around. "Have you ever done it? It's really fun! My dad taught me how." She turned to see N's eyebrows raised for the umpteenth time that day. She giggled slightly. "Come on, I'll show you!" She hastily grabbed his wrist and tugged him over to the edge of the pond, before bending down and digging through the rocks. She eventually found a particularly flat one, not quite perfect, but enough to skim decently.

N eyed her curiously. He'd never seen anyone skimming stones. He'd never even heard of doing so, but hearing about it was enough to make him intrigued by the concept.

"See, you hold it like this…" He looked up to see the stone gripped between White's fingers in a particularly delicate manner. "Then you throw it, like this!" She flicked her hand quickly, letting go of the stone in the process, and watched it as it skipped five times across the water. N jumped; that hadn't been at all what he was expecting. It was like magic, as if it was bounding across a hard surface.

He laughed shortly, before bounding up to stand beside her. "Let me try!" he said eagerly, before picking up the first stone he saw from the pile and pegging it into the water, though it didn't skip any number of times, much to his own disappointment.

"Not like that." White laughed a little, before bending over to the ground, pulling N down with her. "You have to find a good one. See, it's all about patience…" She searched for a minute or so, before finally emerging with another flat rock. "Now you hold it like this." She grabbed N's hand and manoeuvred his fingers to where they needed to be. "Then you flick it out of your hand, like this!"

N watched her imitation of how to throw the rock, before nodding and turning to the lake. He curled his wrist and flicked the stone into the water, though it only skipped three times.

"Oh…" he muttered. "You got five. I only got three."

"It's okay." White smiled, showing her teeth a little. "It's all in the wrist. You can't pick it up straight away. You have to concentrate-…"

"White!"

Her head turned at the call. A call of her mother's voice, before frowning slightly and turning to N.

"I have to go," she said in a slightly sad tone. "Maybe I'll see you again, though!"

N shook his head. "No, I'm moving to Unova in a few days. I doubt father will let me out again."

Surprisingly, White's eyes lit up. "Really? I'm moving there next week!" Feeling a little hope to rekindle their friendship, she turned to run, but before exiting through the bushes entirely, she turned back to N and grinned. "It was nice meeting you."

N only stared as she disappeared through the trees. He'd met a human… a human friend. She'd never directly said it, but he assumed she was his friend. He had the same feeling with her that he'd had with Pokémon, a feeling he never thought he would feel with any human.

He turned to face the water, his reflection staring back at him, the Pidgey still perched on top of his head. He frowned at it, confused for a second. Who was he? What was he meant to do in life?

Perhaps the girl would help him in figuring that out.

* * *

However, eight years later, she was only a forgotten memory that proved to get in the way of his goals.

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**Yay! Bonus semi-shippy content for any Ferriswheelshippers out there. So… I have this headcannon where White and N knew each other when they were kids… well, they met once, then forgot each other as time went on. They also both lived in Kanto, and moved to Unova around the same time, but never saw each other after that. Kinda sad…**

**Also, this has nothing to do with my Black and White fanfic, if you're reading that. It's simply a headcannon that I turned into a one-shot. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**


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